


The Compromise

by AnotherSadStudent



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Relationships, Mentors, Reader-Insert, Sick Character, Sickfic, Stomach Ache, Tenth Class (Team Fortress 2), fluff later, hurt medic, now pain
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-11-15 17:56:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18078233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnotherSadStudent/pseuds/AnotherSadStudent
Summary: Medic is sick and is told by his assistant and the red teams newest support class, Buffer, to stay out of any and all matches until he's better. However, Medic is a stubborn man and he and Buffer come to a compromise, but this deal turns into one big problem.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was previously posted on my Fanfiction.net but I don't post there anymore so now its here. Enjoy!

It was late on a Wednesday night when it all began. The wind howled and the night sky was black with thick rain clouds covering the moon. The base at tuefort was quiet in the late hours except for a single person who still lie awake.  
It was fairly common for you to be up late. You were medics assistant on the Red team and although you loved the job, it kept you busy all day. In the evenings, after your dinner at 6:00pm sharp,you cleaned your room, showered, wrote home to your almost constantly worried family and did anything else you had to before you set off to bed anywhere between midnight and 1am. To most that wouldn’t seem late at all but throughout high school and college you had been know to go to bed early and you were even playfully teased for it. Now, you had things to do and people to keep an eye on so getting to bed early was marked as a thing of the past.  
Now, you sat up simply reading. The clock on your desk read 2:36 am. It was later than usual for you to be up but you just couldn’t fall asleep. Each time you made an attempt to, you tossed and turned and couldn’t get comfortable. Something seemed to nag at the back of your mind but you couldn’t figure out what.  
Eventually, you gave up on your book and tossed it and your covers aside. Slipping out of your bed, you shivered as your feet hit the icy cold hardwood floors. Mid-fall was when things began to cool down but the days were warm so the heat hadn’t been turned on yet.  
Silently, you pulled on a sweater and opened the door to your sitting room. Everyone on the base had their own form of a den attached to their main bedroom. Spy had his smoking room, Medic had his library and so on. These rooms were for the sole purpose of giving the mercs a place to go and relax, away from the obnoxiously loud living room.  
You didn’t bother to turn the light on as you proceeded through your quarters and out into the hall. It was colder there but you figured a walk would tire you out enough to get you to bed. On this walk, you went all over the base. Upstairs and down and down again into the basement and then up again. You wandered through the kitchen, dining room, and living room and then back up stairs. As you walked slowly back to your room, passing spy’s, sniper’s, pyro’s and engineer’s rooms, you stopped when you heard heavy coughing and groaning.  
You narrowed your eyes in curiosity before you began to follow the sound, putting your ear up to each door as you got closer. Upon inspection, Scout, Demo, Heavy and Soldier were all sleeping soundly, three out of the four snoring loudly. Seeing as your room was empty the only one left to check at the end of the hall was Medic’s.  
Slowly and quietly you put your ear up to the door and listened. Inside Medic’s room you heard nothing for a few moments and just when you were about to take your ear from the door your heard a cough from just the other side of the door and then the click of the door-knob.  
You sprung back quickly as the door opened to reveal a rather haggard Medic. His hair was a mess and damp with sweat and his grey-blue eyes were dull with an apparent lack of sleep. Medic was also visibly pale.  
As you looked up in surprise at him, he too looked surprised and a bit frightened to see you.  
“Buffer? V-vhat are you doing?” , the doctor said with a hint of panic in his voice.  
You straightened up but put your back and hands against your door.  
“I heard coughing, sir and I was checking to find out who it was. Everyone was sleeping soundly,sir, except you…”  
The truth spilled from your mouth quickly and almost involuntarily. Medic had a certain effect on you where you just couldn’t lie to him. Sometimes that was quite a problem that got you in trouble from time to time. Typically it helped more than hindered but this information would have been better left to yourself.  
Medic nodded, his eyes falling from yours to the floor.  
“I see…”, he said thoughtfully.  
You tensed a bit at the doctors quieted tone. But from your experience with him and the rest of the guys, you knew it was better to ask then not.  
“Doctor, are you not feeling well? I can see that you look pale and you seem distressed, sir.”  
Medic picked his eyes up from the floor and gave you a hard, analytical stare. His blue eyes singed into your own and, for a moment, you wavered, shrinking in on yourself. But not once did you break the stare. That more than anything was a sign of submission and you’d be damned if you didn’t get a good answer out of this man.  
“Tell me, Buffer” Medic started as he moved closer to you in just a step. “Vat are some symptoms of influenza?”  
“Well, sir, the flu is typically characterized by muscle aches, fever, chills, fatigue, lethargy, and in some cases stomach pains loss of appetite and vomiting.” You replied, unsure of where the doctor was going with this.  
“Very gut. Now, does one necessarily need a professional prognosis for zis ailment?”  
“No,sir.”  
“Correct. Now,if someone with no medical training can zelf-diagnose themselves vith zis virus, vouldn’t you think a trained medical doctor could diagnose it?”  
Now you let you break the gaze and let your eyes fall to the floor.  
“Doctor, I was only asking a question. I heard heavy coughing and I thought -”  
“Forget vat you heard.” Medic commanded.  
The chill in his voice sent a shiver up your spine and you dared to meet his eyes once again. His grey-blue orbs looked like a storm. They had darkened and cast a stern look down on you.  
“Doctor, I can’t...It’s my job specifically to make sure all members of the team receive a examination if there is any suspicion they are ill or injured. Sir, I can’t just ignore what I heard. That gives me more than enough suspicion to at least request you see me for an -”  
“Buffer…” Medic said icily, “ I am giving you un order as your superior. Mind your own business, unterlegen.”  
Unfortunately for you, you had learned a good portion of the german language from just being around Medic to know what he had said. You bit your lip and looked him straight in the eye.  
“Jawohl.” You said quietly but with a hint of anger.  
This elicited a surprised reaction from the doctor. Medic’s eyes went wide and the man’s lips parted slightly but before he could say a word you opened your door and backed yourself into your room with a simple, “Gute Nacht, mein Herr.” that reminded Medic that you understood exactly what he said.


	2. Chapter 2

When morning came and the sun poked through your curtains, you stretched and threw off your covers, fairly ready to meet the day. After your conversation with Medic last night, you had crawled into bed and, almost immediately after, you feel asleep. You were able to get comfortable quickly and you actually hadn’t moved a lot during the night. Your neck was a little stiff as a result of this but that was something that could be easily mended.   
As you began to throw on your uniform, black scrub pants and a white scrub top with the emblem for your class embroidered on the right sleeve, you glanced at your clock. It read 6:45am which meant you had 15 minutes to get ready before breakfast at 7:00am. You sighed and stretched again before running your hand through your hair and heading off to finish your morning routine.   
By the time you had made it down to the dining hall, everyone was seated at the table preparing to eat. Sniper, Spy and Pyro were the first ones to notice you and greeted you in their own fashion. Sniper raised his cup of black coffee to you and nodded. Spy greeted you by saying a simple good morning that was nearly lost in the rest of the chit-chat at the table and pyro waved. You smiled warmly at them and took your seat beside Scout and Engineer. Heavy, who was this morning's cook, placed your usual glass of apple juice in front of you and patted your shoulder in greeting.   
This was they way mornings went on the base. Most of the guys didn’t spend a lot of time on morning formalities and went straight to discussing the day’s plans. But this morning, all conversation waned when Medic entered the room.   
All of the Mercs at the table fell silent after they noticed your lack of an enthusiastic greeting towards your mentor. Instead of your usual lively hello to the doctor, you simply watched him enter in silence.   
The doctor took his seat across from you and met your gaze without a word. The rest of the mercs exchanged glances between themselves as you and Medic stared each other down.   
Honestly, Medic looked no better this morning. Although he had combed his hair and gotten ready for the day, he was pale and obviously tired.   
Surprisingly, Medic looked away from your first. You were unsure of how to take that move but when you looked to sniper, who simply mouthed the question, “what happened” with a furrowed brow, you shrugged,not wanting to say anything.   
Food was soon laid out before everyone and conversation started back up.   
Your breakfast consisted of hash browns, bacon and eggs. As everyone passed around the dishes, you joined in on some conversation ,too. The discussion was about today’s match against the Blu team. It was a capture the flag type mission but little else was known about it other than that. Most of the talk around the table was speculation and jeers towards the Blu team which made everyone laugh. Everyone but Medic.  
You had noticed in the time since he sat down, he had paled even more and he had barely taken anything to eat. He also didn’t speak and just seemed to be staring off into space. You continued to watch him for the next few minutes, not missing the small twitches in his facial features. However, it was when Demo had slammed his fist down on the table, laughing loudly, that you grew more concerned for the doctor.  
Medic inhaled quickly and seemed to hold his breath while shutting his eyes tightly. At this point you noticed his arm move ,too but for an unknown reason.  
“Medic.” You said his name carefully.   
At this point conversation slowly began to fade again.  
“Medic, what’s wrong.” You asked sternly.  
The man before you, with his stormy blue eyes still closed, opened his mouth as if to speak but quickly shut it and tentatively shook his head.  
This set of one red flag after the next and you slowly stood up and made your way over to the doctor.  
“Medic…” You repeated quietly once beside him. “What’s wrong?”.  
The black haired man slowly opened his eyes and turned to look at you. His hazy eyes gave you a silent plea and his face, scrunched in discomfort, sent you a very clear message. Quickly, you looked around the table at your teammates.  
“Get out.” You said urgently.   
A few understood your command immediately and stood but were reluctant to leave. Others looked to their comrades in confusion. You rolled your eyes in annoyance.  
“I said, leave! Now!” You commanded once again before the remaining mercs began to clear the room.   
One by one they all disappeared into the hall. You knew they were just on the other side of the door and could hear everything, the nosy bastards, but that wasn’t your prime concern.   
You sat on the bench next to Medic and touched his arm lightly.   
“Medic, you have to try and talk to me, okay? How are you feeling?” You ask.  
“Not gut…” Was all Medic was able to mutter.   
You furrowed you brow and placed your hand on the doctor’s forehead. You quickly recoiled your hand in surprise. Medic was burning up and when you looked at him he returned your glance for a moment before shutting his eyes tightly again and grimacing. You sighed.  
“Medic, I’m going to bring you back to your room. You’ll be more comfortable there. But I need help. Can you stand and walk or should I go ask for help from one of the others?” you asked tentatively.  
“Nein! Do not get zhe ozhers” Medic replied frantically.   
This surprised you even more than the fever but you knew Medic was a proud man and nodded.  
“Okay.” You said. “I need you to stand up, then you can lean on me. We’ll go up the other stairs to get to your room. That way the others won’t see, okay?”  
Medic nodded and carefully stood. It was now that you realized the man had been holding his stomach and you pressed your lips into a line.   
Slowly but surely, Medic got up from the bench and then, with your help, got to the stairs. Here was the trickiest part but one stair after the next, and after the next, you and Medic made it up the stairs, having to stop only a few times. Getting the doctor to his room was the easy part and you were grateful for his sake once you laid him on his bed.  
The doctor covered his eyes with his arm and gingerly laid a hand on his stomach while you took off his shoes and socks. After they were off, you went over to the closet and found some new pajamas.   
“Doctor.” You said placing you hand just above his knee. “ I know it’s the last thing you probably care about right now but you need to change into the pajamas I put on the end of your bed. I’m going to go down stairs to get a few things. I’ll be right back.”   
The doctor groaned as you patted his leg and got up but he slowly began to get up and change. You on the other hand ran down stairs and began gathering a cloth,thermometer and other things you may need. It was then you called to the other Mercs in the hallway, letting them know it was okay to come back in.   
“What happened?” Scout asked immediately with everyone looking at you for an answer.  
“All I can tell you right now is that Medic is sick. I can’t say much more than that because I don’t know much more than that.” You said.   
Everyone looked around confused.  
“Does that mean we’re gonna be out a medic for today’s match?” Engineer asked.  
You nod.  
“More than likely.Listen, I’ll keep you guys posted but I gotta get back upstairs. Sniper can you get a bowl of cool water and bring it upstairs in a few minutes?” You ask.  
“Sure thing, love.” The aussie replied.  
“Great. Just leave it outside the door and knock. No offense but I think Medic would kill someone if you saw him this way. Also,can one of you get word out to miss pauling?I feel like it’d be important to tell her what’s going on.”   
Scout immediately replied and you thanked him before running back upstairs and into Medic’s room.  
Before you,Medic lay with his head turned from you with a hand on his stomach and another hand at his side. Judging by his breathing you guessed he had fallen asleep but as you walked closer you saw the doctors glasses still on. You smiled and carefully took them off the sleeping Medic’s face before you just studied him with some, odd, curiosity.  
Medic’s lips were slightly parted and he had dark circles under his eyes but he seemed to be sleeping peacefully. His chest rose and fell slowly and evenly and that made you smile more. You carefully pulled the covers of the bed up to Medics chin before pulling the desk chair next to the bed, ready to begin your watch.


End file.
